UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed serious concern over the expiry of the New START nuclear arms control treaty.
In a statement today, the UN chief urged Russia and the United States to return to the negotiating table and agree on a successor framework to restore verifiable limits on strategic nuclear weapons and reduce global risks.
He said the expiration of the treaty marks a grave moment for international peace and security, as the world now faces a situation without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the two largest nuclear powers.
Guterres noted that for more than half a century, nuclear arms control agreements between the two countries helped prevent catastrophe, built stability, and led to the reduction of thousands of nuclear weapons.
The UN chief warned that the dissolution of decades of progress comes at a time when the risk of nuclear weapon use is at its highest in decades.
